For Immediate Release:
September 12, 2007, Washington, D.C.
Center for Public Policy Analysis
Contact: Anna Jones or Jade Lee
Tele. (202) 543-1444
Hmong and Lao-Americans are slated to rally and demonstrate in front of the State Capitol building in St. Paul, Minnesota on Thursday, September 13, 2007 from 11:00 A.M.-1:00 P.M. in opposition to the recent arrest in Laos of three Hmong-Americans and to oppose the repatriation of 8,000 Lao-Hmong refugees from Thailand back to the communist regime in Laos that they fled.
Hundreds are slated to march, rally and demonstrate against the Lao government’s recent arrest of three St. Paul, Minnesota Hmong-Americans and their Lao-Hmong American guide on August 25, 2007 in Xieng Khouang Province, Laos. The four were later jailed in Ponthong Prison in Vientiane, Laos and were later brutally removed from the prison and have since disappeared at the hands of Lao military and security officials.
Demonstrators and speakers will also seek to highlight and rally against the proposed forced or involuntary repatriation of some 8,000 Lao-Hmong refugees from Ban Huay Nam Khao, Petchabun Province, and Nong Khai, Thailand, back to the communist regime in Laos that they fled.
“We want Hakit Yang and the other Hmong-Americans that were arrested by the Lao military and security forces immediately released by the Lao government,”
“Many from the Lao and Hmong community in St. Paul, Minnesota, as well as their U.S. Senators and elected officials are joining together to rally in opposition to the brutal and arbitrary arrest and imprisonment of the three Hmong-American citizens by Lao military and security forces,” stated Philip Smith, Executive Director of the Center for Public Policy Analysis in Washington, D.C. “If the Lao regime will not respect the human rights and dignity of Hmong-American citizens in Laos, how will they treat the 8,000 Lao-Hmong refugees that they want forced back to Laos and is opposed by major human rights organizations as well as the international community,” continued Smith.
Smith concluded: “The egregious ethnic cleansing, mass starvation and human rights violations in Laos directed against unarmed, freedom-loving Lao and Hmong people as well as Hmong and Lao Christians and religious believers must be challenged by the United States and the civilized world. The planned forced repatriation of 8,000 Hmong refugees from Thailand to the brutal, Stalinist regime in Laos is unacceptable to major human rights organizations as well as the international community given the Bosnia and Darfur-like ethnic cleansing now going on in Laos that is directed against the Hmong and Laotian people.”
Other invited speakers, participants and cosponsors include: the office of U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Office of U.S. Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) as well as Minnesota State Senators Mee Moua, Cy Thao and Ellen Anderson. The event will also feature Hmong and Laotian community speakers and activists.
The event is cosponsored by the families of the three missing Hmong-American citizens from St. Paul, Minnesota as well as the Center for Public Policy Analysis and a coalition of Lao and Hmong civic, community, humanitarian and human rights organizations.
